ABERYSTWYTH TOWN 2 HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY 0

HAVERFORDWEST County's interim manager Gary Richards could have few complaints as his side slipped deeper into relegation danger with a 2-0 defeat at Aberystwyth Town on Tuesday night.

Second half goals from Sam Phillips and Matty Jones, from the penalty spot, ensured that the in-form Seasiders toasted their landmark 1,000th Cymru Premier match with a deserved win, in front of 883 supporters at Park Avenue.

To compound the visitors’ misery, substitute Henry Jones was sent off by referee Aaron Wyn Jones for his protests against the decision to award the spot kick - just two minutes after stepping off the bench to replace Ricky Watts.

The Bluebirds remain four points adrift of third-from-bottom Barry Town United, who now have a game in hand, with just two games to go until the league split – against Aberystwyth at home on Friday, February 11 and Cefn Druids away on February 26.

"Two errors obviously for the goals, but to be fair, our performance levels were not where we expected them to be tonight," said interim manager Gary Richards after the match.

"It's hard to explain because we've come off the back of two good performances, but tonight we were probably second-best in too much, we had enough possession, but didn't create enough until late in the game."

After a cagey start, with few chances of note, recent addition Jordan Davies blasted the first chance over for the Bluebirds, and had another effort from distance touched around the post by reliable home keeper Gregor Zabret.

The visitors posed a threat going forward, but the home defence looked solid, with Louis Bradford particularly commanding, along with his erstwhile centre back partner Lee Jenkins.

At the other end, Bradford headed a Matty Jones free kick wide of the target, and visiting keeper Lee Idzi got out well to deny Steff Davies.

As the game started to open up, Franklin directed a back post header straight at Idzi, and Jack Thorn saw a huge volley blocked, with Aber looking dangerous.

Davies blazed wide again for the visitors, before Bradford again went close with a header which landed on top of the net from Veale’s free kick – and a cagey first half ended goalless.

Looking to make an impact after the interval, Phillips cut just past the near post with an early chance, while Zabret remained alert to deny further chances from Davies and Kurtis Rees.

Jonathan Evans came on and injected vigour into Aber’s attacking press, and Lee Jenkins saw a header cleared, and then Phillips had a goal disallowed, before Aber made the breakthrough.

Dylan Rees dispossessed by Phillips, and he cut a beautiful finish from the right into Idzi’s far corner for the crucial opener on 65 minutes.

The visitors tried to respond, but Ricky Watts’ effort was high and wide, and the Black and Greens almost had more joy when Matty Jones nicked the ball off Jazz Richards, and Evans curled his cross wide.

Local lad Evans made amends seconds later however, as another huge volley from Thorn was parried by Idzi, and Evans acrobatically send it back towards Franklin, who was upended by Idzi for the decisive penalty.

In remonstrating with the referee, Henry Jones was shown the red card, and then Matty Jones kept his composure to slot home Town’s second goal of the evening, to send the home supporters in the Dias Stand into raptures.

Davies chipped over the bar for Haverfordwest, with Zabret coming out well soon after to protect his clean sheet on the night.

Bradford pulled out a huge tackle to deny sub Touray Sisay in the box, and once Aber had repelled some late corners, the final whistle went to seal a perfect evening for the hosts.

ABERYSTWYTH: G Zabret, T Rimmer, R Davies (D Evans 58), L Bradford, L Jenkins, J Thorn, M Jones, J Veale, H Franklin, S Phillips (B Wynne 88), S Davies. Unused Subs: A Pennock, O Orford, C Allen, J Jones, K Booker.

HAVERFORDWEST: L Idzi, A Richards, E Scotcher, R Watts (H Jones 73), B Fawcett (T Sisay 56), J Wilson, D Rees (C Sheppard 56), K Rees, R George, J Williams (K Lewis 71), J Davies. Unused subs: W Gajda, J Le-Grice, I Humphreys.

Referee: Aaron Wyn Jones. Assistant Referee: Gareth Wyn Jones. Assistant Referee: Ian David Bird. Fourth Official: Huw Jones.